Excel Slow Opening (Excel 2003 (11.8146.8132) SP2)

When I click the Excel icon or a .xls file (in WinXP Home), the application takes forever to open and then some more time for the document to show. Is there possibly some file missing, or something? I am using NOD32 Antivirus and Counter Spy. Could they be slowing this down? Word opens OK.

Re: Excel Slow Opening (Excel 2003 (11.8146.8132) SP2)

Hi Don,

Good reference you gave me, but I couldn't find a solution there. It takes 17 seconds for Excel to open and show a blank spreadsheet, whether in Excel Safe or Automation mode. I have no add-ins and nothing in my Startup folder. I can't find a .XLB file when searching in the typical places, so that is strange. Any more ideas?

Re: Excel Slow Opening (Excel 2003 (11.8146.8132) SP2)

One other thing that might cause Excel to open slowly that has not been mentioned yet is anti-virus software. If you have AV software running, try turning it off and starting Exel to see if that helps.

Re: Excel Slow Opening (Excel 2003 (11.8146.8132) SP2)

The message below was premature!!! I did find that it was Counter Spy slowing the Excel opening. I looked at the Windows Task Manager to see what was running during the 17 seconds. It was SBCSSvc.exe, which is Counter Spy. If I turn off the active detection, I get a normal 4-5 second open. I tried to inhibit parts of the active monitoring, but I needed to inhibit it to get the normal open time.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I just tried to open Excel to get a baseline time to try the suggestions -- and the program opened in 5 seconds. WoW! It's fixed.